Contact the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Diane Finley and tell her to make the Citizenship Act Charter compliant at email Minister@cic.gc.ca or write to her at The Honourable Diane Finley, P.C., M.P. Citizenship and Immigration Canada Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1

Contact
Prime Minister Harper Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Findlay Minister@cic.gc.ca
by email or phone and urge them to provide Joe and the
other 65,000 with irrevocable Certificates of Citizenship.

December 4, 2007
- It's official -Joe Taylor is a
Canadian citizen! Taylor accepts Section 5.4 grant
of citizenship on the condition that amendments to Canada's
Citizenship Act will fix archaic rules that have shut out
hundreds of thousands of "Lost Canadians" and War
Bride children since 1947. Press release coming.

December 3, 2007 - Early Christmas present for Joe Taylor? Taylor confirms he has been offered citizenship by Citizenship and Immigration, but will changes to Citizenship Act stop him from going to Supreme Court? Find out more on December 5, 2007 when Committee on Citizenship and Immigration releases all committee report on Lost Canadians / War Brides.

November 29, 2007 - It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings. All party support for recommendations on Lost Canadians / War Brides at Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. Report due Wednesday, December 5, 2007.

November 9, 2007 - Lest We Forget War Brides and their kids, editorial in Vancouver Sun. Read more articles about Joe Taylor's case in the column at left.

November 2, 2007 -Supreme Court Here e Come!! Federal Court of Appeal rules today that Joe Taylor, the son of War Bride and her Canadian WWII veteran husband, is not a citizen. Let Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his gang of bullies try to explain that one to War Brides, their children and a disillusioned electorate on the eve of Remembrance Day! Do I hear some major damage control on the horizon? Click here to read the English 45 page Federal Court's decision in Microsoft Word [239 k] or PDF format [212 k] or the French version in Microsoft Word [210 k] or PDF format [212 k].

October 22, 2007 - UN Refugee Agency Report compares Canada's policy on War Brides and Lost Canadians to Vietnam and Zimbabwe. We're in great company!! Click here to read the Canadian Press story.

May 29, 2007 - HOW
MUCH MORE OF THIS PITIFUL TESTIMONY DO WE HAVE TO HEAR BEFORE
PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER TELLS HIS MINISTER DIANE FINLEY
TO DO SOMETHING? More War Bride children testify about
being put through the Citizenship GRINDER at CIC.
Suzanne Rouleau, Denise Tessier, Marion Galbraith are joined
by other War Bride children relatives such as Trierre Merrit,
whose aunt Elizabeth Towner had her citizenship stolen from
her in 1968 because she made the big mistake of taking her
nursing degree in England. Whatever you do, don't try to
improve yourself, or you risk losing your birthright!
Elizabeth's WWII veteran father tried for YEARS to get her
citizenship back, to no avail. Click here to read the letters
(page
1, page
2) she received in 1981 from the the Secretary of State.
The first meeting will be held 11 am to 1 pm at La
Promenade Building - 701 Sparks Street, Ottawa. Second
meeting at Centre Block - 237-C at 3:30 pm with the Minister
in attendance.

March 26, 2007 -
Parliamentary Hearings continue in Ottawa on Citizenship
of War Brides and their children. Click
here for information on how to listen to hearings LIVE
on the internet.

March 24, 2007 - Are they, or aren't they Canadian citizens? Archival documents in support of War Brides citizenship from the Library and Archives of Canada's wartime Immigration Branch files. Click here to read this treasure trove of sixty year old correspondence that has come back to haunt the Immigration Department.

Feb 1 , 2007 - Wipe that smile off your face Diane Finley! The Minister of Immigration responds to BC Federal Court ruling that says Joe Taylor is a Canadian citizen. Says she'll take Joe Taylor to the Supreme Court if she has to! Brilliant move Diane! That's sure to endear your government to the one million Canadians who have a War Bride in their family tree! Click here to read the Minister's response and her implied threat to Joe Taylor!

"Update the current archaic
Citizenship Act and bring it into compliance with the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms" says MP Andrew
Telegdi, former Chair of the Citizenship and Immigration Committee.
Download a petition to send to the Prime Minister at MP Andrew
Telegdi's website: www.telegdi.org

Jan 22, 2007 - Read original World War Two archival documents from the Immigration Branch files of the National Archives of Canada in support of Joe Taylor's claim to Canadian citizenship. Tell Diane Findlay, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to stop wasting tax payer's dollars and give Joe Taylor his citizenship! Email Minister@cic.gc.ca

October 23, 2006 - Joe Taylor needs your help to win this battle against CIC. Click here to read about the fundraising effort to help Joe go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Update, September 29, 2006 - As predicted, the Harper Gov't appeals BC Federal Court decision. Decision to appeal called "Stupid, Stupid, Stupid " and a "waste of taxpayers money" by Melynda Jarratt, war bride historian who provides a detailed list of correspondence from the files of the Canadian Wives Bureau circa 1940-48 which specifically deals with the citizenship of Canadian War Brides and children. Click here to view list of archival correspondence from the National Archives of Canada, researched by war bride historian Melynda Jarratt.

But it's not over yet... as sure as the sun rises in the morning and sets at night, we can expect CIC to challenge Justice Martineau's decision.
What a waste of the taxpayer's hard earned money!!!! Stop the Department now before they make another stupid mistake.

It's hard to believe that strippers
from Romania have more rights to Canadian citizenship than
the children of Canadian War Brides but that's the sad truth
- and the living proof can be found in Joe Taylor, the son
of War Bride Jenny Rose Taylor.

Born in Newport, Isle of Wight,
England, on December 8, 1944, Citizenship and Immigration Canada
has Joe pegged as a "bastard" whose status as an "illegitimate"
child prevents him from obtaining the Canadian citizenship he
so rightly deserves. There is no sympathy, no negotiation: he's
a "bastard" and that's the end of the story. In
the year 2006, one would think that "illegitimate"
and "bastard" didn't mean anything legally, but apparently
they do to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Joe's mother was a British War Bride and his father, a Canadian
serviceman who was stationed overseas during the Second World
War. The two young people met, fell in love and planned to
marry, but then Joe's mother found out she was pregnant. With
D-Day looming, Joe's father tried to get permission to marry,
but his Commanding Officer refused - the rationale being she'd
be one less widow to deal with after the Normandy Invasion.
Against all odds, Joe's father survived and the couple married
on May 5, 1945, when Joe was five months old. In July 1946,
Joe and his mother came to Canada on the Queen Mary as part
of the famed War Bride transportation but as fate would have
it, the marriage didn't last: Joe and his mother returned
to England and Joe grew up always knowing that he was a Canadian
citizen...or so he thought.

Despite the ridiculous situation Joe has been put in, he refuses
to give up. He lives half of the year in Canada, and - when
Immigration regulations force him to leave Victoria, British
Columbia, where he has a home - he moves back to England where
he passes the time until he can come back to Canada. In his
own words, here is Joe's story, as told to the Parliamentary
Committee on Citizenship and Immigration in May, 2005.

________

I'd like to introduce myself. I'm
the son of a Canadian serviceman who fought for this country
in World War II and is buried in the Canadian Legion's Field
of Honour in Port Alberni. Yet I'm experiencing great
difficulty in establishing my Canadian citizenship. My mother
was a British war bride--you heard about those earlier this
morning--and I was born in England while my father was in
Europe fighting to defeat the German armed forces. My mother
and I came to Canada in 1946 to set up home with my father
on Vancouver Island, and I became a Canadian at that time.

My father had experienced the severe horrors of war and had
a changed personality, which resulted in the early breakdown
of the marriage. I was taken back to England by my mother,
and I have lived there for most of my life. We travelled back
to England on a Canadian passport, which I still have. In
fact, here it is. It's nearly 60 years old. My mother and
I have never renounced our Canadian citizenship, and I am
very proud of my birthright.

We lost touch with my father very early on, and circumstances
dictated that I was not in a position to come to Canada to
try to find him until the late 1990s. It was only in November
2000 that I was informed that my father had died in 1996 and
that I had seven half-brothers and half-sisters, all of whom
live on Vancouver Island, whom I had never known about.

We were informed in December 2002 by Canada House in London
that I had lost my Canadian citizenship on my 24th birthday
as I had not filed forms requesting the retention of my status.
The Canadian Bill of Rights acts retrospectively to protect
whatever rights I acquired when I came to Canada, and I acquired
citizenship, which was acknowledged by the representatives
at Canada House.

The principles of natural justice dictate that before rights
are taken from Canadian citizens, notice of the potential
loss, an opportunity to respond, and a fair adjudication should
occur. Natural justice is simply another way of describing
the principle of fairness. My father and mother and I were
not notified of the requirement that I make an application
to retain my Canadian citizenship, nor was I ble to respond
to that potential loss. The process that was adopted seems
most unfair, and I believe it came into force in 1952.

Canadian law relevant at the time I landed in Canada, July
1946, stated that the children of Canadian servicemen born
while they were on active service abroad were to be deemed,
when landing n Canada, as non-immigrant and have the same
status as their father. In other words, I was supposed to
be treated as if I was born in Canada--and I underline that--and
therefore not subject to the 1952 regulations, which have
been used to prevent me from being a Canadian and living in
the country for which my father gave so much. These regulations
were legislatively designed to affect children who were born
abroad and not deemed to be born in Canada. The regulations
should not be applied in circumstances such as mine.

I now have an application, which was lodged in November 2003
and is still awaiting processing at Sydney, Nova Scotia. Letters
and e-mails to two previous citizenship and immigration ministers
and some members of this committee have not even received
replies. I would not be a burden to Canada as I will have
my own pension income, which was earned by contributions paid
over the years in England, and I currently own my homes in
both countries.

But there are some important general issues arising from my
personal situation. Canada seems to remove citizenship from
its people more easily than most other countries, which gives
the impression to the outside world that Canada treats its
own people unfairly, contrary to the principles of natural
justice.

Australia is currently drawing up legislation to unreservedly
return citizenship to any of its former citizens who have
at some stage lost this status.

In the year 2000, Trinidad and Tobago passed a similar law,
which was very simple, and merely gave back citizenship to
any former national who had lost their status. This legislation
restored citizenship with effect from the date on which it
had been lost. This amendment to their citizenship act was
only half a page in length and demonstrates that it should
not be too difficult to welcome your own children home.

________

Click here to read the question
and answer period following Joe's testimony before the
Parliamentary Committee on Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Read about other testimony on this issue.